Straits Times, July 21, 2009
Billions in Asia to witness eclipse
Swathe of darkness will sweep across India and China
NEW DELHI: The world's most populous nations will gaze skywards tomorrow as the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century leaves a swathe of darkness across India and China, from Mumbai to Shanghai.
The up to 258km wide shadow will first strike the Gulf of Khambhat, off western India, at 0053 GMT (8.53am Singapore time). It will then sweep across India, blacking out the holy city of Varanasi on the banks of the Ganges, squeezing between the northern and southern tips of Bangladesh and Nepal before engulfing most of Bhutan, traversing the Chinese mainland and slipping back out to sea off Shanghai.
Its next landfall will be Japan's southern Ryukyu Islands, after which it will curve south-east through the Pacific Ocean, where the maximum duration of totality - when the sun is fully covered - will occur.
The total transit will obscure the sun by 50 per cent or more for an estimated two billion people, from the salt flat farmers of Gujarat to herdsmen in the foothills of the Tibetan Himalayas.
The event is being hyped in the world of eclipse-chasers as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity which, due to its trajectory over some of the most densely inhabited areas on earth, could end up being the most watched eclipse in history.
'This is a very important milestone. None of us will live long enough to see another one like it,' said Mr Federico Borgmeyer, the German-based manager of the specialist travel agency Eclipse City. American astrophysicist and acclaimed eclipse expert Fred Espenak has simply labelled tomorrow's event 'a monster'.
Total solar eclipses occur when the moon comes between the earth and sun, completely obscuring the sun. The excitement this time is largely due to the unusually long duration of the instant of greatest eclipse, or 'totality'. At its maximum, this will last six minutes and 39 seconds - a duration that will not be matched until the year 2132.
Some have seized on the natural phenomenon as a business opportunity. Travel firm Cox and Kings has chartered a Boeing 737-700 aircraft that will take off from New Delhi before dawn, 'intercept' the total eclipse at around 12,500m and then chase its path to the western state of Bihar. All 21 sun-side, window seats have been sold at 79,000 rupees (S$2,362) each.
In Shanghai, hotels offering special eclipse packages were booked out well in advance by guests from Japan, the United States and Europe. Shanghai Sculpture Park, one of the best viewing locations in the city, has sold more than 2,000 tickets.
On a less commercial note, 1.5 million Hindu pilgrims are expected at the holy site of Kurukshetra, in northern India, where bathing in the water during a solar eclipse is believed to further the attainment of spiritual freedom. Japan, which has not seen a total eclipse for 46 years, is celebrating with fireworks on the island of Yakushima.
An astrologer in Myanmar has warned that the eclipse is a sign of impending chaos. In India, some pregnant women have been told to stay indoors to follow a centuries-old tradition of avoiding the sun's invisible rays.
There are also less other-worldly concerns - the potentially massive audience for this eclipse has raised fears that many could end up with permanent retina damage from viewing the event with the naked eye.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
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